Winding apparatus for producing an annular filamentary package



Aug. 22,

Filed Oct.

D. DELERUE WINDING APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AN ANNULAR FILAMENTARY PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. DOMQI YIOUE DEL ERUE g- 1967 D. DELERUE WINDING APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AN ANNULAR FILAMENTARY PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 1, 1964 United States Patent 3,337,144 WINDING APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AN ANNULAR FHAMENTARY PACKAGE Dominique Delerue, 189 Blvd. Descat, Tourcoing, Nord, France Filed Oct. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 400,845 8 Claims. (Cl. 24231) The present invention relates to a new system of Winding filamentary material, particularly synthetic yarns, into a new type of annular package of filamentary material in the form of a rocket-shaped cake.

In accordance with this invention, an annular filamentary package is produced on a winding apparatus comprising a spindle mounted for rotary motion about an axis and a yarn guide means mounted adjacent the spindle for linearly reciprocating motion in the direction of the axis. The spindle executes 1.5 to 3 rotations per each unidirectional axial movement of the yarn guide means. A shaft is mounted for synchronized rotary motion about an axis parallel to the spindle axis, the spindle and the shaft being rotatable in the same direction. A fixed helical guide means, such as a housing having an interior wall and a helical groove in the wall, surrounds the rotary shaft and means, such as a roller, is fixedly mounted on the shaft and engages the guide means whereby the rotary motion of the shaft is converted to a linearly reciprocating motion in the direction of the axes. A lost motion means connects the shaft and the yarn guide. The lost motion means is connected to the shaft for axial movement therewith and transmits the linearly reciprocating but not the rotary motion of the shaft to the yarn guide.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the yarn guide means is supported on one end of a rod and the other end of the rod is joined to the lost motion means. A fulcrum is arranged intermediate the rod ends for pivotal movement of the rod about the fulcrum.

In accordance with a specific embodiment, the lost motion means comprises a second shaft coaxial with the first-named shaft, bearing means connecting the shafts, anti-friction means arranged in the bearing means whereby the rotary motion of the first-named shaft is not transmitted to the second shaft while its linearly reciprocating motion is transmitted thereto, and linkage means arranged between the yarn guide and the second shaft for transmitting the linearly reciprocating motion of the second shaft to the yarn guide.

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent in the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a side view, partly in longitudinal section, of the new yarn package, called rocket-shaped cake, produced according to this invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates preferred winding apparatus for producing the rocket-shaped cake of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 2A shows a modified detail of the apparatus.

Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows an annular package 1 of wound filamentary material, preferably crimped synthetic filaments, such as crimped nylon yarn, whose surface windings are entirely surrounded by a wrapper 4 of liquid-permeable material.

In the illustrated embodiment, the yarn package or cake is wound onto a tubular spool 3 of a yielding material, such as paper or the like, whose one end has a 3,337,144 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 frusto-conical flange 3. The spool 3 defines an axially extending cavity 2 to permit shrinkage of the synthetic filamentary material during dyeing operations, the spool material yielding under the inward pressure of the shrinking yarn package. Before the filamentary material is wound on the spool to produce the annular rocket-shaped cake, a liquid permeable wrapper or cake cover 4, for instance of very thin cotton with a multiude of openings, is placed underneath the spool in a manner to be explained more fully hereinbelow and is extended axially along the spool wall as the cake is formed so as to cover the wall of the spool and to prevent the innermost surface windings of the cake to become disarranged and matted during dyeing. In this manner all the innermost surface windings of the cake are surrounded by wrapper 4, which separates these windings from the spool in the manner clearly shown in FIG. 1, and at the end of the cake formation, the end portion of the tubular cake cover is folded back over the cake to surround the outermost cake windings, too, the cake cover end portion 4 overlapping the other end portion of the cover so that the wrapper 4 fully encloses the annular yarn package 1.

If desired, the spool 3 of yielding material may be omitted and the filamentary material may be wound directly onto the cake cover supported on a spindle.

FIG. 2 illustrates the preferred apparatus according to the invention for winding the new annular filamentary package at great speed, simultaneously imparting to the yarn the rapid crossings of its helical windings, needed to facilitate the unraveling of the yarn after dyeing.

As shown, the synthetic filament 1', for instance a crimped nylon yarn, is led from a source (not shown), i.e. a spinning machine, around an elongated guide post 34 mounted on platform 35 to the yarn guide 21. Fixed tubular housing 31 is supported on platform 35 and the interior wall of housing 31 defines a helical ramp 32. A cylindrical drum 33 is mounted coaxially within tubular housing 31 and turns about the common axis of the housing and drum, being supported for rotation on shaft 102 which passes axially through the drum and beyond platform 35 for connection to a suitable source of power (not shown) for rotating the drum. The drum 33 has a diametrically extending slot 8 extending longitudinally of the drum, the diameter of central shaft 102 being larger than the width of slot 8. Shaft 102 carries two fixed lugs 6 extending symmetrically from the shaft through slot 8 and one of the lugs supporting at its end a roller 7 engaged in the ramp or groove 32 for helical guidance therein during rotation of the shaft and drum. In this manner, means is provided for converting the rotary motion of drum 33 into a linearly reciprocating motion of the shaft 102, the shaft moving up and down along axis 100 as roller 7 runs in helical groove 32 during rotation of the drum 33.

The upper end of shaft 102 is coupled to coaxially mounted shaft 11 in the following manner.

A flanged bearing sleeve 9 at the upper end of shaft 102 carries a horizontally arranged anti-friction bearing, i.e. ball bearings 10, and a like flanged bearing sleeve 12 carrying like ball bearings 13 is arranged adjacent thereto around the adjacent end of shaft 11. A horizontally extending disc 14 is integral with the end of shaft 11 so that the bearing sleeves 9 and 12 may run freely on the ball bearings around the shaft 11, roller bearings 15 being mounted between shaft 11 and bearing sleeve 12. In

this manner, the rotary motion of shaft 102 is not transmitted to shaft 11, which remains fixed against rotation but receives the linearly reciprocating motion from shaft 1112, thus moving up and down with it. The shaft 11 is held in upper housing 17 and including at its top a bearing 101 wherein an end of shaft 11 may glide for axial movement.

A radially extending arm 16 is fixedly supported on axially reciprocating shaft 11 and a reduced portion of arm 16 passes out of housing 17 through longitudinal slot 30 extending through the housing wall in an axial direction, i.e. in the direction of reciprocation of shaft 11 and arm 16. The end of arm 16 carries joint 18 to which a rod 19 is connected at right angle to arm 16. Intermediate its ends, rod 19 is mounted on pivoting axle or fulcrum 24) which is mounted on the apparatus in any suitable manner (not shown) so that the rod 19 may pivot about this fulcrum when its one end at joint 18 is reciprocated linearly by arm 16. The other end of rod 19 carries an eye serving as yarn guide 21. In this manner, means is provided for transmitting the linearly reciprocating motion of shafts 1112 and 11 to a like linearly reciprocating motion of the yarn guide so that yarn 1', which is held in the yarn guide and guided thereby, will be wound rapidly in helical windings.

The annular filamentary package is wound on spindle 1114 which is rotated in the same direction as, and in synchronism with, the drum 33 by any suitable means (not shown).

The operating of this winding apparatus will partly be apparent from the above description of its structure and will be more fully explained hereinafter:

In turning about its axis 1%, the drum 31 forces the roller 7 to rise and descend along the helical path of ramp or groove 32 and thus translates rotary motion into a linearly reciprocating motion of shafts 162 and 11, which is transmitted to yarn guide 21. Accordingly, the yarn guide passes rapidly up and down along the axial extension of the spindle to form the annular yarn package, the rotational speed of shaft Hi2 and spindle 194 being identical and such that 1.5 to 3 rotations are executed for each axial movement of guide 21 in one direction. A yarn compaction cone 110 of known structure and function is indicated only schematically to show the formation of the frusto-conical end portion of the cake which is wound on the spindle in rapidly crossing helical windings.

Obviously, shafts 102 and 11 could be constituted by a single integral shaft, such as shown at 111 in FIG. 2A, and, alternatively, the arm 16 could be mounted on this single shaft for free .rotary motion, i.e. by interposing anti-friction bearings between the shaft 111 and the bearing of arm 16. In this manner, too, the rotary motion of the shaft will not be transmitted to arm 16 but its linearly reciprocating motion will be transmitted thereto since the arm bearing is held on the shaft for axial movement therewith.

As mentioned in connection with the description of FIG. 1, the innermost windings of the annular filamentary package are wound onto a cake cover or wrapper 4, for which purpose the permeable wrapper must be interposed between the spindle and the filamentary material or, if a paper or like spool is used, the spool is placed on the spindle and the wrapper sleeve is interposed between the spool and the filamentary material. The wrapper is applied in the following manner:

Before the filamentary package is wound on spindle 101, a conical wrapper support element 165 is mounted on the spindle, being removably fixed thereon by stud 107 engaged in keyway 1116 at the upper end of the spindle. The upper portion of support element 105 defines an annular cavity 168 whose walls carry peripherally extending saw teeth 1119 or like wrapper retaining means. The end of the tubular wrapper material is held by these teeth during rotation of the spindle under the centrifugal force placed over fixed housing 31 imparted thereto to hold the wrapper in position while the innermost windings are placed thereover. After mounting element on the spindle, the wrapper sleeve 4 is pulled out of cavity 108 of element 1% over this element and the spindle, and to avoid damage to the wrapper at the beginning of the cake formation, due to the strong centrifugal forces applied thereto during the rapid rotation of the spindle, the other wrapper sleeve end is held in a frusto-conical casing 103 attached to the base of spindle 164. As shown in FIG. 2, the other wrapper end is held in this casing, in a folded condition and is fed out of the casing to underlie the innermost filamentary windings at the same rate as the filamentary package is formed under the action of cone 110 which gradually moves casing 163 downwardly.

if desired, a paper or like spool may first be placed over element and spindle 194 so that the wrapper will cover the spool instead of the spindle, as shown in FIG. 1. After the package is wound, it is removed from the spindle, the one end of the wrapper in element 105 and the other end of the wrapper remaining in casing 163 both being folded over the outer windings of the package in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1.

It is important to note that it is essential for the crossing of the helical windings of the new filamentary package to be very rapid, i.e. the number of rotations of the spindle per single stroke of the linearly reciprocating yarn guide, must be 1.5 to 3 to facilitate the unraveling of the new yarn package after dyeing.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in connection with a now preferred embodiment, it will be clearly understood that many variations and modifications may occur to the skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A winding apparatus for producing an annular filamentary package, comprising a spindle mounted for rotary motion about an axis, a yarn guide means mounted adjacent the spindle for linearly reciprocating motion in the direction of the axis, a shaft mounted for synchronized rotary motion about an axis parallel to the spindle axis, the spindle and the shaft being rotatable in the same direction, a fixed helical guide means surrounding the rotary shaft, means fixedly mounted on the shaft and engaging the guide means whereby the rotary motion of the shaft is converted to a linearly reciprocating motion in the direction of said axes, and lost motion means connected to the shaft for axial movement therewith and to the yarn guide means for transmitting the linearly reciprocating but not the rotary motion of the shaft to the yarn guide.

2. The winding apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a rod supporting the yarn guide means on one end thereof, the other end of the rod being joined to the lost motion means and a fulcrum being arranged intermediate the rod ends for pivotal movement of the rod about said fulcrum.

3. The winding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fixed helical guide means includes a fixed housing surrounding the rotary shaft, the housing having an interior wall defining a helical groove.

4. The winding apparatus of claim 3, wherein the guide means engaging means is a roller engaging the helical groove.

5. The winding apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lost motion means comprises a second shaft coaxial with the first-named shaft, bearing means connecting the shafts, anti-friction means arranged in said bearing means whereby the rotary motion of the first-named shaft is not transmitted to the second shaft while its linearly reciprocating motion is transmitted thereto, and linkage means arranged between the yarn guide means and the second shaft for transmitting the linearly reciprocating motion of the second shaft to the yarn guide means.

6. The winding apparatus of claim 1, further compris- 6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,602,607 7/ 1952 Calvi 242-27 X 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 481,377 3/1938 Great Britain. 857,717 1/ 1961 Great Britain.

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

10 W. S. BURDEN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A WINDING APPARTUS FOR PRODUCING AN ANNULAR FILAMENTARY PACKAGE, COMPRISING A SPINDLE MOUNTED FOR ROTARY MOTION ABOUT AN AXIS, A YARN GUIDE MEANS MOUNTED ADJACENT THE SPINDLE FOR LINERALY RECIPROCATING MOTION IN THE DIRECTION OF THE AXIS, A SHAFT MOUNTED FOR SYNCHRONIZED ROTARY MOTION ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLED TO THE SPINDLE AXIS, THE SPINDLE AND THE SHAFT BEING ROTATABLE IN THE SAME DIRECTION, A FIXED HELICAL GUIDE MEANS SURROUNDING THE ROTARY SHAFT, MEANS FIXEDLY MOUNTED ON THE SHAFT AND ENGAGING 